Our businesses

Logistic

The merchandise we buy is delivered to our warehouses on trucks (36 % being delivered by container). The total volume represents the equivalent of 2,072 20-foot containers. We have 102,656 m² of storage area, with a capacity of 110,441 pallets. There are 224 forklift trucks coming from 3 hand-picked manufacturers. We keep 73,387 items in stock. Our team of 168 warehousemen have prepared and shipped 566,271 orders coming from 3,468,485 product lines. Our customers’ purchasing processes are computerised: their orders are integrated into their system and then sent to us primarily by digital data exchange. 35.9% of our orders are now processed by EDI, character recognition and our commercial websites, thus reducing manual entry.

Average turnover per order is 1,004 euros.

Each of our subsidiaries has a single storage centre from whence they ship their orders to their customers in France, Europe and Africa.

Supply Chain management

In a very quickly-changing context in terms of logistics, with the arrival of new actors and new technologies, we made the decision to create a Supply Chain Director position (sourcing, storage and distribution) to identify and improve our excellence in this field.

Subsequently, Anaïs Der Hagopian-Virieux left her position as Sectoriel’s Administrative Director to join Thermador Groupe on September 1, 2020, as Supply Chain Director. Her mission is now to support the subsidiaries and the group through a process of continuous improvement of the tools, resources and flows to improve supply chain performance.

In addition to suitable technologies and smallerscale topics, two structuring projects marked 2021: - ThermAppro - a tailor-made tool for optimising our supplies. It was developed using an agile method and has been deployed in four pilot subsidiaries (Dipra, Jetly, Sectoriel, Sferaco) in April 2021. The objective of this decision-making tool for buyers/suppliers is to secure the right stock at the right time. Supported by an artificial intelligence and data enhancement consultancy, the application is based on engineering technologies using machine learning. It has 5 main modules (product and customer segmentation, forecast management, mass corrections, supply recommendations, reporting) and is currently in a ramp-up phase. - A new platform for our subsidiary FGinox. The objective was to support the subsidiary in its development. This involved responding to specific challenges: densification, gains in efficiency/productivity and traceability, reducing arduousness for employees, plus a shortage of logistics employees, particularly in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region. The future platform in St Quentin Fallavier will be operational by the end of the first half of 2022 and will incorporate both conventional and mechanised storage solutions.

p

Sales activity

38,612 visits to 34,324 customers,

97 customers have visited our group, 5 of whom have visited our industrial partners’ facilities

495,241 calls are received per year: Advice, prices, availability, after-sales service

The CEOs, Sales Directors, Itinerant Sales and Office Technical Sales staff have permanent contact with our customers, both in the field and on the phone. Some of our wholesaler customers can receive representatives from several of the Group’s subsidiaries in the same day, without ever complaining that they are wasting their time. Indeed, our colleagues have a duty to gain an in-depth understanding of the ranges they promote and thereby demonstrate their efficiency.

Each week, training actions are led in the field or in our offices with our customers’ staff members. They also consult our websites for easy access to technical information.

Our office-based technical sales teams are also contributing by telephone to process all types of requests very quickly: price, availability, after-sales, technical information, etc.

Some of our wholesale customers have developed web-based activities. At the same time, e-commerce-only players and marketplaces have emerged on our fields. We welcome this new distribution channel as an opportunity and are investing so that our technical resources and our teams’ knowhow are up to the task. Modern websites, enrichment and dissemination of product data, referencing of our brands, adjustment of our pricing policies, digital marketing, online video, social networks, influencers, etc.

 

Virtual reality

In 2021, a three-person team consisting of a project manager, a computer scientist and a graphic designer developed a virtual three-dimensional house that our customers can now visit. It features equipment marketed by six of our subsidiaries. And we have many more projects: collective housing, buildings for tertiary activities, industrial valves in exploded view or in operation, production lines of a virtual factory, etc. We are also thinking about tours of our sites by combining video and computer-generated images. In short, the applications are endless.

Distribution circuit

Specialised distribution: central heating and domestic hot water accessories, pumps for heating, plumbing equipment, taps, valves for building, ventilation, industrial valves and fittings, cold water pumps, swimming pool equipment and accessories, air compressors, generators and welding stations.